PRE & POST Workout Meal. I have an easy question for you. Do you want to accomplish any of the following goals: Lose fat. Build muscle. Lose fat AND build muscle.
Increase strength. Improve performance. Be healthy. If you said yes to any of those, then your #1 focus MUST always be on eating the right total amount of calories, protein, fat and carbs each day. That’s a fact. Your total daily calorie and nutrient intake (along with getting those nutrients from mostly higher quality sources) is ALWAYS the most important part of every single diet plan regardless of what your goal is. But, that statement brings up an interesting question: What then is the second most important aspect of your diet?
Well, for people who are working out regularly, the answer is both simple and scientifically proven. The PRE and POST workout meals happen play a key role in the effectiveness of those workouts. In the most basic sense: What you eat before (and if needed, during) your workout is crucial for fueling the workout itself and maximizing your performance throughout.
What you eat after your workout is crucial for optimizing the recovery process (which basically begins as soon as your workout ends) and ensuring that your body has all of the supplies it needs in order to recover, adapt and improve the way you want it to. And while research does show individual benefits in getting JUST your PRE workout nutrition right, or getting JUST your POST workout nutrition right, real world experience shows that for the best possible results, the key is getting BOTH meals just right. So, while your around- workout- nutrition definitely won’t make or break your success, the meals you eat before and after working out can definitely play a positive role in improving your results. You just need to get these meals right to reap the benefits. Not surprisingly, the diet and fitness world has overcomplicated the crap out of these meals, with various “experts” coming up with all kinds of super specific recommendations and various supplement companies coming out with supposed “superior” products. Let’s now cut through all of that nonsense and figure out exactly what you should be eating before and after your workouts.
Note that this meal is skipped if you train first thing in the morning. OR. Keep the fats here incidental and not added if you’re prone to gastric distress during training. I think that’s all pretty self explanatory. As for me personally, I always go with something similar to the first option shown above. This is what I’d personally recommend to most people.
There’s no need to get any more complicated than that, and no need to obsess about the specifics. Alan Aragon himself would be the first person to tell you that. POST Workout Nutrition: What Should You Eat After Working Out? Your POST workout meal is the first meal you eat after your workout. While the PRE (and/or during) workout nutrition phase is commonly referred to as the “Energy Phase,” this POST workout portion of your around- workout- nutrition is commonly referred to as the “Anabolic Phase.”The Purpose of Post Workout Nutrition.
The reason it’s nicknamed the “anabolic phase” is again pretty obvious, as anabolism refers to the “building” (or even “rebuilding”) of something. Quite simply, your POST workout meal is the meal that plays the largest role in supplying your body with everything it will need to repair, replenish, recover and adapt to the training stimulus that you just provided during your workout. Specifically, the goal of the POST workout meal is to accomplish the following: Replenish muscle glycogen that was depleted during your workout. Reduce muscle protein breakdown caused by exercise. Increase muscle protein synthesis.
Reduce muscle soreness and fatigue. Greatly enhance overall recovery.
Aamir khan in his own blog has written about Ghajini workout schedule and diet chart that he has followed to achieve the target. The three most important things in. Diet chart for weight loss: To lose weight effectively, it is important to keep track of your calories intake. Here is a diet chart for weight loss that will help you.
Reduce cortisol levels. How To Do It. To make all of the above happen successfully, your body once again needs 2 things: Carbs. Protein. Yup, the same 2 things your body benefits from before your workout are the same 2 things your body benefits from after your workout.
So, your primary goal with your POST workout meal is to consume a significant amount of both carbs and protein in some form soon after your workout. Why soon after? Because, after your workout, your body is absolutely primed and ready to accept protein and carbs so it can immediately begin putting these nutrients to good use doing all of the awesome things you want it to be doing (such as the stuff on that list above). Most people also feel that calorie partitioning (how calories are used once they enter your body) is at its very best at this time, so people often make this their largest meal of the day.
For all of these reasons, it’s most often recommended to consume your post workout meal as soon after your workout as you can. I don’t mean put- down- the- weights- and- start- eating. That’s a bit insane. However, this meal should ideally be eaten within the first 6. Or better yet, within the first 3.
So, your biggest goal with your POST workout meal is to consume a nice amount of both protein and carbs sometime within the first 3. As long as you’re doing that, you’re doing it right. Of course, we’ve once again reached the point where everyone wants the overcomplicated specifics.
FIGHTERDIET.COM. Fighter Diet provides workout and nutrition solutions for everyone who wants to be lean, healthy and strong. Beginners to Pro's.
Exactly how many grams of carbs and protein, exactly what foods should they come from, and so on. While I again find those kind of specifics to be mostly pointless, I won’t just leave you hanging with no guidelines at all. A Recommended POST Workout Meal Protocol.
Just like I did earlier with your PRE workout meal, I’m going to again leave you with Alan Aragon’s popular recommendation, this time for what to eat after working out. Within 3. 0 minutes post- workout, have either a liquid or solid meal containing. I just throw the appropriate amounts of both into a shaker bottle, take it with me to the gym, and leave it in my car or locker. When I’ve finished working out, I just pour in a bottle of water, shake for a few seconds, and taaadaaa, I have an extremely quick and convenient POST workout shake that I drink on the ride home. Option B: Sometimes I skip the liquid meal described above in favor of a normal solid food meal as soon as I get home. I normally go with chicken and a big bowl of rice or white potatoes or another similar higher glycemic source.
PROPER pH BALANCE FOR PEAK POWER, STRENGTH & ENDURANCE! The typical American diet is too high in acid-producing foods like meat, eggs, dairy, white flour and sugar. PHASE 1 DiEt + trAining SEriES gEt SWOLE DiEt + trAining gUiDE LArOnLAnDrY PRO FOOTBALL SUPERSTAR.
As I’ve mentioned before, this is the one time of the day when higher glycemic foods may have an advantage over lower glycemic foods. I know a lot of people who prefer to eat their favorite junkier cereals (Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, etc.) at this meal for this very reason. Option C: Sometimes I combine elements of the previous 2 options. Specifically, I’ll use whey protein powder as my protein source, and a higher glycemic solid food as my carb source. Exactly which option I personally go with or recommend you go with depends on a bunch of factors. For example. Don’t get me wrong, I still use this option a lot, it’s just that any supposed benefits over Option B or C are most likely insignificant at best.
Want to know how to create the perfect diet plan for your specific workout and fitness goal? Here's how. Within the span of about a week, I unintentionally came across two big lists of diet and nutrition related tips. One claimed to contain the “50 best tips,” while. How to Lose Weight in 4 Weeks- Diet Chart for Weight Loss when it comes to losing weight, a regular workout or exercise routine won’t suffice. John Abraham Workout Routine Diet Plan. According to him, fitness has three root levels: good routine, good sleep and good food. He does exercise for 2-3.
The real big advantage of this shake is the convenience of it. Just mix it together and drink. That’s as quick and easy as it gets, and some people might prefer that. Not to mention, some people just aren’t that hungry after working out, so they might prefer to drink this meal rather than eat it. It’s all about personal preferences. Option B or C (the solid/semi- solid food meals) are definitely more ideal for people who would prefer to chew their meal rather than drink it.
Some people just enjoy eating and love the idea of getting to eat a nice big meal containing some of the higher glycemic foods they typically avoid the rest of the day. These options may just be more fun and enjoyable to many people, especially those who are trying to lose fat (and are therefore eating less calories overall and wouldn’t want to “waste” a meal by drinking it), or people who just have problems controlling their appetite. Again, as long as you get the gist of the meal right (eat a nice amount of protein and carbs soon after your workout), exactly how you do it is not likely to matter much in the end and should really come down to your own personal preferences. There’s no need to get any more complicated than that, and no need to obsess about the specifics.
What about the POST? Is it enough of a role to make up for failing to get the real important stuff right? Definitely not. But, assuming you’re already doing the important stuff correctly, getting your PRE and POST workout meals right is the icing on the cake. So, surround your workouts with meals that contain a nice amount of protein and carbs, and don’t waste time or energy making it much more complicated than that.
The PRE and POST Workout FAQBefore we leave this subject, I just want to answer a few related questions that I can imagine people having after reading this. What brand of whey and dextrose do you recommend? The full details of whey protein powder (and protein supplements in general) are coming up next in this guide.
You’ll see in a minute. As for brand recommendations, I personally use and fully recommend Optimum Nutrition’s 1. Whey. For dextrose, it’s all the exact same thing, so any brand is fine. It’s pretty cheap, so buy it in bulk if you decide to use it as your POST workout carb source. I personally use Now Foods Dextrose. My goal is to lose weight.
Won’t the EXTRA calories from my PRE/POST workout meals cause me to gain weight or stop me from losing weight? NO, not at all. The reason why is because these calories will NOT be EXTRA calories. They will be a part of your total daily diet. What I mean is, the “extra” calories from these meals will be bad ONLY if they are indeed “extra” calories above what you are supposed to be eating. However, what they should be are calories that are just PART of the total daily calorie intake that’s ideal for you. So, if you need to be eating 2.
The calories and nutrients in these meals all count towards your daily totals just like any other meal.